Knowledge Translation & Transfer (KTT) Activities

Overview

Bioeconomy based on industrial uses of biobased products is the wave of the future. This new wave is largely seen by society as a laudable goal, but the challenges in face of the development of sustainable bioeconomy are not well understood. Understanding the opportunities a bioeconomy creates, as well as the trade-offs involved for businesses to invest in R & D and market their products, is important for its success. As a part of its activities, the BDDC is committed to increasing awareness of the efforts needed to develop greener materials from sustainable resources.

Professor Amar Mohanty has received Knowledge Translation and Transfer (KTT) grant from OMAFRA/U of G Partnership program Agri-Food and Rural Link, for the project entitled “Bioeconomy Seminar Series and Innovative Outreach Program for Wider Dissemination of Knowledge”.The main goal of this project is to conduct a ‘Bioeconomy Seminar Series’ that will benefit the bioeconomy industry of Ontario through access to expertise from national and international experts.

Agri-Food and Rural Linkis the hub for KTT at the University of Guelph and is an important component of OMAFRA/University of Guelph (UofG) Partnership Agreement.

The KTT program sets aside funds for projects that improve the impact of research by transforming knowledge into use for different audiences across the agriculture, food and rural sectors. It also provides new and improved networking and collaboration opportunities among researchers and public and private-sector partners. Or more simply, KTT can be defined as: “… accelerating the transformation of knowledge into use.”

Bioeconomy Seminar Series

Public Seminar - 05 June, 2013

Part of OMAFRA-UofG KTT Bioeconomy Seminars

The Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre (BDDC) and Professor Amar Mohanty hosted a public Bioeconomy Seminar as part of the OMAF and MRA-UofG KTT program on June 5th, 2013 at Cutten Fields in Guelph, Ontario. Three world renowned speakers from the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States shared their international perspective for a sustainable bioeconomy by highlighting current research and development in the areas of bioproducts, biofuels and bioenergy.

Speaker 1

Title: How Important is the Bioeconomy
By: John Williams, PhD, Head of Materials, The National Non-Food Crops Centre, United Kingdom

We will hear about the steps the U.S. government is taking to support the development of the bioeconomy. The BioPreferred program is a mandatory Federal procurement program put in place 10 years ago to help pull the market for biobased products by harnessing the purchasing power of the Federal government by mandating the purchase of products designated by USDA. The program now also has a USDA Certified Biobased Product label which is beginning to appear in retail outlets. Additionally, the Administration is expected to announce a new Federal research thrust to support the bioeconomy.

As a part of OMAFRA-UofG KTT Bioeconomy Seminars, the first speaker in the series will beBrenda Platt, Co-Chair, Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Washington, DC
"Sustainable Biomaterials: Criteria, Benefits, Challenges & Market-Based Tools"

The development of bioplastics and other biobased materials holds great promise to mitigate many of the problems associated with plastic derived from nonrenewable sources. However, they are not an automatic panacea. As the interest in biomaterials grows, so follows concern regarding sourcing and end-of-life issues surrounding these materials such as food competition and GMOs and compostability vs recyclability. We will hear from the Sustainable Biomaterials Collaborative, and its efforts to promote innovative programs that allows buyers of biobased products to support sustainable agricultural practices.

Dr. Alejandro García & René Carmona, from the University of Chile, in Santiago, visited the BDDC, OMAFRA, as a part of the collaboration with Professor Amar Mohanty and Dr. Manjusri Misra. They gave a presentation on “Research at the University of Chile related to second generation bioethanol, our experience and challenges”.

Professor Rodrigo Navia, from the University of La Frontera in Temuco, Chille visited the University of Guelph and BDDC as a part of the collaboration with Professor Amar Mohanty. Prof. Navia gave a presentation on “Biofuels from microalgae: the Chilean example”.